La Fiat 500 è (quasi) qui!

The Fiat 500 is coming to America! Fiat dealerships are opening up here, and in fact there will be one in Atlanta! This is something Il Nostro Inviato has been talking about for years -- no exaggeration -- but it's also of interest to me.

Here's one of the stories I'm reading about the 500's arrival:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/27/automobiles/autoreviews/27WHEEL.html

I also love the story below about what Fiat had to change to make the car ready for the North American market (and North American regulatory and safety concerns):

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/27/automobiles/27LIST.html

Will I buy a Fiat 500? Ma non so....Il Nostro Inviato will want me to have one, for sure. But it's smaller than a Mini, which means it's smaller than my Volkswagen Golf. And that may be a bit too small even for Ciambellina.

Atlanta Italian Film Fest info now available

The 2011 Atlanta Italian Film Festival kicks off on Thu., March 24. The organization running the festival has now posted the slate of films and all the details.

Go here for information on the films:

http://www.cinemaitaly.com/index2.php?idfestival=28

The festival takes place at Georgia State University's Rialto theater, and begins with a screening of the Fellini classic, "La Dolce Vita."

The new films include a lot of comedies, unlike last year's festival, which was marked by some decidedly sad (and some might say bizarre) films!

I'm not sure which screenings I plan to attend but I would like to see "La Dolce Vita" on the big screen!

Atlanta's Italian Meetup is organizing incontri every evening there's a film. For more information, go here:

http://www.meetup.com/italiana/

Ci vediamo al Rialto!

Italian film festival returns to Atlanta

Here's the info:

Atlanta Italian Film Festival 2011
March 24th - 27th
at Rialto Center for the Arts


In partnership with Georgia State University

From the email:

"The Italian Film Festival is back for the fifth time in Atlanta, bigger and better than ever. Seven outstanding Italian films will be presented at the Rialto Center for the Arts from March 24th through the 27th including the unique celebration of 50 years of La Dolce Vita of Italian Cinema on Opening Night, the Best Films, as voted by the audience in our Festival in Miami October 2010, a selection dedicated to Italian Documentaries and our award winning presentation of short films titled "Life is Too Short" and much more.

"Enjoy also our Signature Opening Party and a Closing Cocktail, stay tuned for the full details but mark your calendars because it happens only once a year and it is now!"

All information and film titles soon available at www.cinemaitaly.com

Italian women say: "Se non ora, quando?"

"If not now, then when?"

Italian women (and men) will be protesting Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's treatment of women, both on the television channels he owns and in his private life, in piazzas across Italy this Sunday. Here's their statement of intent:

NYT photo: "Italy is not a whorehouse"

(Credit: Maurizio Degl'Innocenti/European Pressphoto Agency)

Here's what I'm reading this week:

Sex Scandals in Italy Fuel Discontent of Women
By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO and RACHEL DONADIO
Published: February 2, 2011
The scandals around the Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi are a reminder of Italy’s persistent gender gap.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/world/europe/03italy.html

NYT: A Soap Opera Starring Berlusconi

Here's what I'm reading today:

Week in Review
Surreal: A Soap Opera Starring Berlusconi
By RACHEL DONADIO
Published: January 22, 2011
In Italy, politics can seem to be on one plane of reality and real life on another.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/weekinreview/23donadio.html

Italian treats from New York

Caffe Kimbo from Naples -- oh so good! I bought it at Roma's near Troy, N.Y., where Il Nostro Inviato's family lives. Our Christmas holidays in New York stood us in good stead to stock up on Italian treats.

I've definitely decided that coffee from Southern Italy is the best! Side by side, the Caffe Kimbo is so much darker than even Lavazza Oro. And I say darker=better.

Taralli. Crunchy, salty, with an olive oil essence, this is my favorite snack of all time! Think of them as Italian pretzels but so much better.

And some camomille tea. I bought the taralli and the tea at Chelsea Market in New York City.

Buon anno and buon appetito!

Florence/Tuscany in the snow

(Photo courtesy of Il Corriere della Sera)

Florence and the rest of Tuscany are buried under with snow!

Well, they'll have a bianco natale so that's nice!

Ora si puo' dire 'buon natale'

Il salotto a casa nostra

Stella di Natale

Italy -- out of control -- yesterday

I know we don't normally think of Italy as a scary place, but the protests yesterday that occurred in Rome after the Prime Minister survived a narrow confidence vote in Parliament are just that: scary.

See for yourself in the video at the link below (after the quick ad for parmesan cheese).

http://video.corriere.it/assalto-camionetta-guardia-finanza/ba043e5e-083d-11e0-b759-00144f02aabc

Ce l'ha fatta Berlusconi?

Ma com'e' possibile?

C'e' da dire, pero': una rissa in aula? Priceless.

Oggi, tutto all'americano (Thanksgiving)

Il tacchino, come forse sapete, il piatto tipico della nostra festa di ringraziamento

Le patate

Insalata di bietola, che sinceramente non è un piatto tipico per la cena di Thanksgiving, ma Il Cuoco, cioè Il Nostro Inviato, è molto bravo in cucina e voleva fare qualcosa di speciale.

La torta di mele -- ci mancherebbe altro! Da noi c'è un detto: As American as apple pie. Vuol dire: Tanto americano quanto la torta di mele. Quindi la torta di mele non si salta.

L'anno prossimo venite a trovarci! Vi faremo sapere un po' della nostra festa nazionale.

NYT: End of Berlusconi era?

Italy Senses Berlusconi Era Is Nearing End
By RACHEL DONADIO
Published: November 12, 2010
Analysts say a call for a confidence vote against the prime minister is expected to bring down the government within weeks.

Read article here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/13/world/europe/13italy.html

Ciao Bocca in Atlanta

As I've said before, Italy ruined sandwiches for me.

When I first arrived in Italy as a student, I would eat one sandwich, and one sandwich only: mozzarella con pomodoro.

When the bread is locally-made, and the mozzarella is fresh and slightly damp, and the tomatoes are good, there's really nothing better.

Really, when you can buy a sandwich like that, you don't need mustard or mayonnaise. I used to order this sandwich at a small dive bar in Siena called Il Pozzo, and the German proprietor would toast the sandwich slightly, and oh, it was heaven.

Later on, when I began eating meat again, I realized life is even better when you add prosciutto crudo to a sandwich. (It's only fair to say at this point that prosciutto crudo improves just about any situation!).

How good are Italian sandwiches? Well, when I was driving from Rome to Puglia a few years back, I stopped a few times at autogrills, i.e., rest stops along the highway, and even at these places, the bread was fresh, the mozzarella was good and the prosciutto had been sliced that morning.

But the discovery of the Italian sandwich makes life hard in America. I mean, eating at Subway just simply isn't the same.

So you can imagine how lovely it is to find a little treasure like Ciao Bocca, which opened earlier this year at the Sweet Auburn Curb Market, near downtown Atlanta.

I included the lunch counter, and its owner, Deborah Kudelka (in photo above), in a story I recorded for WABE 90.1, Atlanta's NPR affiliate.

You can listen to the story here:
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wabe/news.newsmain/article/1/0/1709237/Atlanta./Downtown.Atlanta.market.comes.back.to.life

She makes a variation of my favorite sandwich that uses pancetta instead of prosciutto. It includes baby arugula and it's a delight!

And Deborah offers daily specials, which can be anything from a specialty sandwich (for example, the grilled portabella sandwich you see in the top photo) or a pasta dish. And she serves fantastic salads as well.

Her lunch counter reminds me of the food stalls that I used to see at the markets in Italy, but also the markets in Mexico, too. You know, the places where the market workers eat, often the simplest places, and the ones with the best local food. And that's no surprise since Deborah comes from fine Roman stock (she says she learned how to cook in part from her aunt).

Below, you can see what her homemade ravioli look like. Truly squisiti! The photo is not the best, but her food is: on the left is a sample of her ravioli with portabella mushrooms and on the right is one with a pumpkin mixture (its orangey goodness breaking through the pasta sheath like an egg served sunny side up). Oh my Lord are they good!

So buon appetito and I'll see you at Ciao Bocca!


Ciao Bocca at the Sweet Auburn Curb Market
209 Edgewood Avenue (Jesse Hill Jr. Drive)
Atlanta, Ga.
http://www.sweetauburncurbmarket.com/

Alessi @ Eataly

In my post yesterday about my visit to Eataly, the new Italian food and drink emporium in New York's Flatiron District, I forgot to say that I did buy something!

A wonderful Alessi cheese grater.

We bought it to replace another wonderful Alessi cheese grater that bit the dust in the dishwasher! (Troppo calore)

Leave it to Alessi to create such a cool, functional cheese grater. The round plastic cradle acts as storage for cheese during your meal.

And Il Nostro Inviato has to have grated parmiggiano at the ready at all times!

I highly recommend the grater either for yourself or as a gift. But be careful when you wash it!

Eataly @ NYC (c/o Slow Food)

(Photo credit: Lana Adinne via Flickr)

I was in New York last month and the early part of this month, and while there, I was able to visit Eataly, the new branch in the Flatiron District of an expanding Italian food emporium.

Slow Food, which is dedicated to honoring the origins of and protecting the source of traditional dishes, is a consultant to the Eataly folks.

Just about everything you might want to eat or drink in Italy is sold at Eataly. Prosciutto. Mozzarella. Coffee. Wine. Even craft beer.

I was a little disappointed that I could only find Lavazza coffee at Eataly; while planning my visit, I managed to convince myself that I would be able to find Quarta or Guglielmo coffee.

Alas no.

But it's a gorgeous, secular temple to Italian food. The wine there is fantastic, the plates of affettati and cheese are wonderful, and the buzz at Eataly was infectious.

And I can happily report, the food and wine hall is full of sayings and signs in Italian.

Pretty soon, the average New Yorker is going to know words like il pesce, la birra, crudo and lo sconto!

And..... Mario Batali, who is one of the partners behind the new supermarket, was at Eataly while I was there!

To learn more about Eataly, see this article in the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/20/dining/reviews/20Eataly.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Eataly&st=cse

Eataly
200 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010

Ecco perché alla fine della giornata siamo nervosi...

Dalla nostra cara amica Ilaria:


Dicono che tutti i giorni dobbiamo mangiare una mela per il ferro e una banana per il potassio.

Anche un'arancia per la vitamina C e una tazza di the verde senza zucchero per prevenire il diabete.

Tutti i giorni dobbiamo bere due litri d'acqua (sì, e poi espellerli, che richiede il doppio del tempo che hai perso per berli).

Ogni giorno un'aspirina, per prevenire l'infarto, e un bicchiere di Vino rosso, sempre contro l'infarto ed un altro di bianco, per il sistema nervoso, ed uno di birra, che già non mi ricordo per che cosa era.

Se li bevi tutti insieme, ti può dare un'emorragia cerebrale, però non ti preoccupare, perché non te ne renderai neanche conto.

Tutti i giorni bisogna mangiare fibra. Molta, moltissima fibra, finché riesci a cagare un maglione. Si devono fare tra i 4 e 6 pasti quotidiani, leggeri, senza dimenticare di masticare 100 volte ogni boccone.

Facendo i calcoli, solo per mangiare se ne vanno 5 ore.

Ah, e dopo ogni pasto bisogna lavarsi i denti, ossia dopo l'Actimel e la fibra lavati i denti, dopo la mela i denti, dopo la banana i denti... e così via finché ti rimangono 3 denti in bocca, senza dimenticarti di usare il filo interdentale, massaggiare le gengive, il risciacquo con Listerine...

Bisogna dormire otto ore e lavorare altre otto, più le 5 necessarie per mangiare, allora 21. Te ne rimangono 3, sempre che non ci sia traffico.

Secondo le statistiche, vediamo la tele per tre ore al giorno.

Già, non si può, perché tutti i giorni bisogna camminare almeno mezz'ora (attenzione: dopo 15 minuti torna indietro, se no la mezz'ora diventa una).

Bisogna mantenere le amicizie perché sono come le piante, bisogna innaffiarle tutti i giorni. Inoltre, bisogna tenersi informati, e leggere per lo meno due giornali e un paio di articoli di rivista, per una lettura critica.

Ah!, si deve fare l'amore tutti i giorni, però senza cadere nella routine: bisogna essere innovatori, creativi, e rinnovare la seduzione.

Bisogna anche avere il tempo di spazzare per terra, lavare i piatti, i panni, e non parliamo se hai un cane o ... dei FIGLI???

Insomma, per farla breve, i conti danno 29 ore al giorno.

L'unica possibilità che mi viene in mente è fare varie cose contemporaneamente: per esempio: ti fai la doccia con acqua fredda e con la bocca aperta così ti bevi i due litri d'acqua. Mentre esci dal bagno con lo spazzolino in bocca fai l'amore (tantrico) col compagno/a che nel frattempo guarda la tele e ti racconta, mentre tu lavi per terra.

Ti è rimasta una mano libera?? Chiama i tuoi amici! E i tuoi genitori. Bevi il vino (dopo aver chiamato i tuoi ne avrai bisogno). Il BioPuritas con la mela te lo può dare il tuo compagno/a, mentre si mangia la banana con l'Actimel, e domani fate cambio.

Però se ti rimangono due minuti liberi, invia questo messaggio ai tuoi amici (che bisogna innaffiare come una pianta).

Adesso ti lascio; tra lo yogurt, la mela, la birra, il primo litro d'acqua e il terzo pasto con fibra della giornata, già non so più cosa sto facendo ... però devo andare urgentemente al bagno.

E ne approfitto per lavarmi i denti....

SE TI HO GIÁ MANDATO QUESTO MESSAGGIO, PERDONAMI PERÓ É L'ALZHEIMER, CHE NONOSTANTE TUTTE LE CURE NON SONO RIUSCITA A COMBATTERE.

Pomodorini!

Ci sono ancora i pomodorini nel giardino. Infatti ce ne sono di piu' ora che l'autunno è arrivato!

Va perfetto perché io come io non voglio accettare che l'estate è passato. E col tempo ancora calduccio qui ad Atlanta e questi pomodorini, posso far finta.

Vespa mania in Atlanta

People who love Vespas in the U.S. really love Vespas because riding scooters is really not all that wide-spread still.


These photos are from a Vespa rally that took place in Atlanta last month.

Ho fatto questa foto quassu' perche' mi piace vedere gli scritti in italiano. Ora si vedono tante parole in italiano qui in USA. Mi garba!


You see a lot of Vespas around Atlanta. And it makes sense: il bel tempo!